Carbonated beverages, including soft drinks, sparkling waters, alcoholic beverages and the like, tend to lose carbonation and "go flat" upon prolonged or repeated exposure to the environment. Such exposures commonly can occur when a bottle is left uncapped or through repeated opening and closing of a container. Carbonation resulting from carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the beverage can escape from the beverage into a head space portion of a sealed container above the beverage. When a conventional container is opened, the pressurized gas in the head space escapes from the container, resulting in the loss of that amount of carbon dioxide. By itself the repeated opening of a container results in an undesirable loss of carbonation from the beverage. In addition, when beverage is subsequently dispensed from the opened container, a larger head space volume forms into which additional carbon dioxide can diffuse after the container is closed or resealed. Thus, repeated opening and dispensing of carbonated beverage from a conventional container results in an even greater and more rapid loss of carbonation. The loss of carbonation through container opening and closing is a prevalent design limitation with larger multiple serving sized containers.
Several containers have employed differing means of maintaining a sufficient amount of carbonation in beverages, such as including means for minimizing head space formation. Specifically, Chambers et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,713 discloses a beverage container having an inner portion within an outer wall portion, an air admitting one-way check valve and a separate dispensing tap located on opposite portions of the container. The check valve automatically admits replacement air into a space between the inner portion and the outer wall as beverage is dispensed therefrom. Tullman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,666 discloses a bottle-like container with substantially rigid walls wherein a one-way valve is fixed in a base opposite an orifice used for pouring the beverage. The one-way valve communicates with a collapsible, substantially gas impermeable bag which is inflatable with replacement air to eventually fully occupy the container volume. The container disclosed in Lynn, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,230 includes a rigid outer bottle-like container having a neck and mouth, and an inner collapsible pouch within the bottle for containing the beverage. The neck of the bottle contains a passageway for admitting air into an internal air space between the pouch and the outer wall when a separate cap is removed and part of the beverage is dispensed. When the cap is reinstalled, it seals the passageway and prevents the ambient atmosphere and the air trapped in the internal air space from backfilling into the beverage containing pouch. The air trapped in the internal air space is compressed between the rigid bottle wall and the expanding pouch by carbonation escaping from the remaining beverage. This compression acts to prevent total expansion of the pouch and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that escapes into the head space.
Other containers have included external means of pressurizing the beverage to reduce the loss of carbonation. Riley U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,075 discloses a container wherein a flexible bag containing a carbonated beverage is located within a substantially cylindrical tube formed of rigid or elastic material. The tube transmits pressure to the flexible bag to counteract the expansion due to carbon dioxide out gassing from the carbonated beverage. Similarly, Haggart U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,483 discloses a container which includes a diaphragm of resilient material to continually exert pressure on a beverage contained in a separate bag until the bag is emptied. Negaty-Hindi et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,450 discloses a container which incorporates either elastic material, ratchet means or spring means to exert external force on a flexible bag containing a beverage as the liquid is dispensed from the container.
These previously disclosed devices differ significantly from that presently disclosed. The present device is adaptable for containing and dispensing liquids or beverages without separate air venting and liquid dispensing devices or external pressurizing means. Instead, the present invention resides in a multi-wall device for containing liquids and beverages, where the beverage is contained substantially separate from the incoming replacement air. The present container importantly includes a single dual orifice valve which directs replacement air to back fill a container portion separate from the liquid containing portion to minimize undesirable contact between ambient air and the liquid contained within.